It's hard to imagine that gloriously familiar voice belonging to a teenager still figuring everything out. But Kenny's first experience of marriage came years before he became the man who could turn a country ballad into everybody's favorite love song.
Born in Houston, Texas, he formed his first band, the Scholars, while still in high school in 1956. Music was already pulling him toward a future he wanted badly, and then his girlfriend, Janice Gordon, became pregnant.
Kenny was 19 when they married in 1958. Their daughter, Carole Lynne Rogers, arrived on September 15 of that year, making him a husband and father while he was barely into adulthood.
Speaking to Fox News in October 2012, Kenny remembered loving Janice and believing they could make their relationship work. He said her parents felt he had ruined her life, a judgment that remained painful decades later.
Kenny Rogers flashes an easy smile while seated in an ornate theater surrounded by red velvet seats in an archival portrait. Sporting his characteristic full beard, flowing dark hair, and wire-rimmed glasses, the musician relaxes in a navy velvet button-up shirt accented with gold buttons, paired with a gold chain necklace and rings. | Source: Getty Images
